Melvin Guillard Returns Simply, “To Have Fun”

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By Rhett Butler

En route to asking Melvin Guillard if he had any doubt that the UFC would call while he was an undefeated rising fighter on a ten fight win streak, he is quick to correct you on the miscalculated numbers.

“I went on a 22 fight win streak; I was 22-0 before I lost my first fight. My first loss was to Carlo Prater.”

Before the reality television concept featuring him, before the pay-per-view hype and primetime cable edginess, there were 22 wins, all birthed from the power of fun. The enjoyment was strained when the big lights began to bring all the regular travails that success comes with: negative energy from peers, death and despair.

“My last two fights had affected me badly,” said Guillard. “My dad had just died, so my mind wasn’t really into fighting and my heart wasn’t there but I want it to be there. Now I’m back and I’m ready. I’m training hard and I’m taking a lot of ass kickings at practice and I’m giving them too, so y’all definitely going to be ready to see the Young Assassin.”

Melvin’s last two fights were a disappointment to himself and most as the two first round losses were compounded with an eight month suspension for testing positive for cocaine after the Joe Stevenson fight and a death in the family while battling his hometown nemesis, Rich Clementi.

“It hurt me pretty bad,” he said. “It was definitely a life lesson learned. It was me again being young and hanging out in that crowd. I had too many of the wrong people around me wanting to be my friend because of who I was. Now I’m over that and I no longer have those former friends. Now I just have my teammates and Saul (Soliz) and the guys that I need around me to become a champion.”

During Melvin’s meteoric rise up the amateur circuit and the professional ranks, he ran across Kyle Bradley, a protégé of local Louisiana MMA star Rich Clementi, and beat him twice. This, combined with a growing local fan base, created a rift between the two Louisiana standouts, one that played out during their face-off at UFC 79, a card which was aptly titled: Nemesis.

“It went a little deeper than (Kyle Bradley),” said Guillard. “Rich was just jealous because when I started fighting in FFC in the Gulf Coast I became one of the hometown favorites and he wasn’t the best anymore and he took it personal and he just created this attitude towards me. He didn’t like me because I was a young up and coming fighter. The loss I got from him I can’t base that and say that Rich is a better fighter than me because technically we got in a street fight and technically I beat the s**t out of him. But now I’m over that, I’m more mature now, I don’t care. I just want to get better and get my rematch inside the ring and I’m going to leave it like that.”

After leaving the UFC following the Rich Clementi loss, Guillard found success three months later via a unanimous decision over Eric Regan in Rage in the Cage. The win warranted a return of the “Young Assassin” who’s 3-4 UFC record leaves fans curious about what he might still bring to the cage.

“I need this win in the UFC because the UFC is my home and I don’t want to fight anywhere else and right now I need this win,” he said. “It’s a good card and I get to fight on the same card as Rampage; he’s one of those fighters I look up to. It’s definitely going to be one of those hall of fame fights.”

The next challenge for Guillard is a tough-as-nails Russian transplant fighting out of Germany, Dennis Siver. He has two losses in his three fights with the UFC and is searching for a win like this, and with Guillard’s knockout power well known, this win could solidify Siver as rising contender with the ability to beat real recognizable UFC talent. With a knockout win over Naoyuki Kotani at UFC 75, Siver has shown heavy hands, but his last fight against Gray Maynard leaves question marks despite a gutsy effort. Undoubtedly, he will come out strong to erase that last showcase.

Looking at the lightweight division, one becoming equally as stacked as the 205-pound weight class, Guillard has a formidable mountain to climb to get back to title contention. But he understands that and is optimistic, yet realistic, about his future.

“Right now it’s tough,” he admits. “You got guys like Spencer Fisher, Frankie Edgar, I can name so many. You even got Rich in there. It gets tougher and you just got to train harder, but right now I’m going to give it a shot and try to become UFC champion. But for future reference, if that doesn’t work and I don’t feel that I’m going to be a champion in the UFC then switch me over to the WEC because its about being a champion and I want to go somewhere where I can be a champion right now. I’m not going to be naïve and a hypocrite but I don’t see myself beating BJ Penn right now, he’s a top guy. Anybody under him, yeah, I can go head to head with and I could give it a shot, but I’m not going to sit here and say that my skills are good enough to beat BJ Penn right now because his ground game is way off the charts. Guys like (WEC lightweight champion) Jamie Varner and (Rob) McCullough and guys like that - those guys are tailor made for me to fight. I’m gonna give it a shot and give it a run, but if I fall short again, I’ll be looking forward to moving somewhere else so I can become a champion.”

Melvin Guillard looks at his return back to the big show as a way to recapture the fun that made him 22-0 in the beginning. This new outlook will guarantee a positive viewpoint to his career.

“I just want to be a legend in the sport, I want to be a champion, and I want to be a hall of famer,” he said. “It ain’t about the money to me anymore. Fighting to live, fighting to survive, it ain’t about that anymore. Now it’s about just having fun, and right now I just need to get back to having fun and winning fights.”

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